Mechanisms behind distracted driving behavior: The role of age and executive function in the engagement of distracted driving.

Performing secondary tasks, such as texting while driving, is associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle collisions (MVCs). While cognitive processes, such as executive function, are involved in driving, little is known about the relationship between executive control and willingness to engage in distracted driving. This study investigated the relationship between age, behavioral manifestations of executive function, and self-reported distracted driving behaviors.

Experiences of long-term life-limiting conditions among patients and carers: what can we learn from a meta-review of systematic reviews of qualitative studies of chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic kidney disease?

Objectives: To summarise and synthesise published qualitative studies to characterise factors that shape patient and caregiver experiences of chronic heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Design: Meta-review of qualitative systematic reviews and metasyntheses. Papers analysed using content analysis.

LasR Variant Cystic Fibrosis Isolates Reveal an Adaptable Quorum-Sensing Hierarchy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Unlabelled: Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections cause significant morbidity in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Over years to decades, P. aeruginosa adapts genetically as it establishes chronic lung infections.

Primary Care Provider and Patient Perspectives on Lung Cancer Screening. A Qualitative Study.

Rationale: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for lung cancer screening in high-risk individuals.

Comparing the Health Effects of Ambient Particulate Matter Estimated Using Ground-Based versus Remote Sensing Exposure Estimates.

Background: Remote sensing (RS) is increasingly used for exposure assessment in epidemiological and burden of disease studies, including those investigating whether chronic exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is associated with mortality.

Objectives: We compared relative risk estimates of mortality from diseases of the circulatory system for PM modeled from RS with that for PM modeled using ground-level information.

Methods: We geocoded the baseline residence of 668,629 American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) cohort participants followed from 1982 to 2004 and assigned PM levels to all participants using seven different exposure models.

American College of Radiology (ACR) Radiation Oncology Practice Accreditation: A pattern of change.

Purpose: The American College of Radiology (ACR) Radiation Oncology Practice Accreditation (ROPA) program has accredited more than 600 sites since 2006, including practices within academic, hospital-based, and freestanding settings. The purpose of this report is to evaluate and compare patterns of change in common deficiencies over time.

Methods And Materials: The ACR database was queried to analyze the common deficiencies noted by the ACR ROPA program between 2012 and 2014.

The Role of Self-Care for Parents in Recovery From Substance Use Disorders: An Integrative Review of Parental Self-Care.

Background: Lack of stress modifiers, such as self-care behaviors (SCBs), can increase vulnerability to drug use for parents in recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs).

Purpose: The purpose of this integrative review was to determine how the existing literature describes, conceptualizes, and measures SCB for parents in the general population for its application to parents with a history of SUD.

Methods: Framed by Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory of Substance Abuse, four qualitative and five quantitative studies identify SCB, although only one study describes SCB of parents in recovery.

Countervailing effects of income, air pollution, smoking, and obesity on aging and life expectancy: population-based study of U.S. Counties.

Background: Income, air pollution, obesity, and smoking are primary factors associated with human health and longevity in population-based studies. These four factors may have countervailing impacts on longevity. This analysis investigates longevity trade-offs between air pollution and income, and explores how relative effects of income and air pollution on human longevity are potentially influenced by accounting for smoking and obesity.

Kawasaki Disease and Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution.

Objective: To analyze associations of short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (diameter ≤ 2.5 µm [PM2.5]), a measurable component of urban pollution, with the event date of fever onset for patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) residing in 7 metropolitan regions.

Integrative Review of Instruments to Measure Team Performance During Neonatal Resuscitation Simulations in the Birthing Room.

Objective: To identify instruments appropriate to measure interprofessional team performance in neonatal resuscitation (NR), describe the validity and reliability of extant NR instruments, and determine instruments for use in interprofessional birthing room NR simulations.

Data Sources: The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Ovid MEDLINE, Proquest, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus databases were searched.

Study Selection: We used inclusion and exclusion criteria and screened 641 abstracts from January 2000 through December 2014 for relevance to the research question.

Commissioning of self-management support for people with long-term conditions: an exploration of commissioning aspirations and processes.

Objectives: To explore how self-management support (SMS) is considered and conceptualised by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and whether this is reflected in strategic planning and commissioning. SMS is an essential element of long-term condition (LTC) management and CCGs are responsible for commissioning services that are coordinated, integrated and link into patient's everyday lives. This focus provides a good test and exemplar for how commissioners communicate with their local population to find out what they need.

The microbiota in bronchoalveolar lavage from young children with chronic lung disease includes taxa present in both the oropharynx and nasopharynx.

Background: Invasive methods requiring general anaesthesia are needed to sample the lung microbiota in young children who do not expectorate. This poses substantial challenges to longitudinal study of paediatric airway microbiota. Non-invasive upper airway sampling is an alternative method for monitoring airway microbiota; however, there are limited data describing the relationship of such results with lung microbiota in young children.

Can stories influence African-American patients' intentions to change hypertension management behaviors? A randomized control trial.

Objectives: Information-only interventions for hypertension management have limited effectiveness, particularly among disadvantaged populations. We assessed the impact of viewing African-American patients' stories of successfully controlling hypertension on intention to change hypertension management behaviors and engagement with educational materials.

Methods: In a three-site randomized trial, 618 African-American Veterans with uncontrolled hypertension viewed an information-only DVD about hypertension (control) or a DVD adding videos of African-American Veterans telling stories about successful hypertension management (intervention).

Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Domestic Cat (Felis catus) Spermatogonial Stem Cells.

In many mammalian species, surface markers have been used to obtain enriched populations of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) for assisted reproduction and other applications; however, little is known about the expression patterns of feline SSCs. In this study, we assessed expression of the SSC surface markers commonly used in other species, KIT, ITGA6, CD9, GFRalpha1, ADGRA3, and THY1, in addition to the less frequently used pluripotent markers TRA-1-60, TRA-1-81, SSEA-1, and SSEA-4 in SSCs of both prepubertal and adult domestic cats (Felis catus). To further characterize cat SSCs, we sorted cells using SSC-specific markers and evaluated the expression of the pluripotent transcription factors NANOG, POU5F1, and SOX2 and the proto-oncogene MYC within these populations.

Telehealth for patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease: pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Objective:  To assess whether non-clinical staff can effectively manage people at high risk of cardiovascular disease using digital health technologies.

Design:  Pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial.

Setting:  42 general practices in three areas of England.

Brain Anatomy in Latino Farmworkers Exposed to Pesticides and Nicotine.

Objective: Migrant tobacco farmworkers experience regular occupational exposure to pesticides and nicotine. The present study was designed to determine whether there are differences in brain anatomy between Latino farmworkers and non-farmworkers.

Methods: Magnetic resonance brain images were compared between farmworkers and non-farmworkers.

Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression: An Overview and Methodological Recommendations for Future Research.

Emerging research suggests that a relationship exists between breastfeeding and postpartum depression; however, the direction and precise nature of this relationship are not yet clear. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the relationship between breastfeeding and postpartum depression as it has been examined in the empirical literature. Also, the potential mechanisms of action that have been implicated in this relationship are also explored.

Effectiveness of an integrated telehealth service for patients with depression: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention.

Background: Many countries are exploring the potential of telehealth interventions to manage the rising number of people with chronic disorders. However, evidence of the effectiveness of telehealth is ambiguous. Based on an evidence-based conceptual framework, we developed an integrated telehealth service (the Healthlines Service) for chronic disorders and assessed its effectiveness in patients with depression.

Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: Strengths and limitations of the evidence to inform policy and practice. A review and discussion paper based on evidence reviewed for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Safe Staffing guideline development.

A large and increasing number of studies have reported a relationship between low nurse staffing levels and adverse outcomes, including higher mortality rates. Despite the evidence being extensive in size, and having been sometimes described as "compelling" and "overwhelming", there are limitations that existing studies have not yet been able to address. One result of these weaknesses can be observed in the guidelines on safe staffing in acute hospital wards issued by the influential body that sets standards for the National Health Service in England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which concluded there is insufficient good quality evidence available to fully inform practice.

Breastfeeding and postpartum depression: Assessing the influence of breastfeeding intention and other risk factors.

Background: Risk and protective factors for postpartum depression have been extensively studied, and in recent studies an association between breastfeeding and maternal mood has been reported. The present retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the association between breastfeeding-related variables and postpartum depression (based on Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale threshold criteria) within the context of other known risk factors.

Method: Breastfeeding information, demographic information, and scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were examined from the Canadian Maternity Experience Survey.

Contested Ownership of Disease and Ambulatory-Sensitive Emergency Department Visits for Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Approximately 21 million persons have diabetes and account for 11.9% of all emergency department (ED) visits for a total cost of $14.1 billion.

"What We Breathe Impacts Our Health: Improving Understanding of the Link between Air Pollution and Health".

Air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of millions of people each year around the world, and air quality problems are growing in many developing nations. While past policy efforts have succeeded in reducing particulate matter and trace gases in North America and Europe, adverse health effects are found at even these lower levels of air pollution. Future policy actions will benefit from improved understanding of the interactions and health effects of different chemical species and source categories.

Effect of cationic grafted copolymer structure on the encapsulation of bovine serum albumin.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate a library of poly-L-lysine (PLL)-graft (g)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) copolymers for the ability to encapsulate effectively a model protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and to characterize the stability and protein function of the resulting nanoparticle. A library of nine grafted copolymers was produced by varying PLL molecular weight and PEG grafting ratio. Electrostatic self-assembly of the protein and the grafted copolymer drove encapsulation.

A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Elementary School Absences and Fine Particulate Air Pollution.

Fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) has been associated with many adverse health outcomes including school absences. Specifically, a previous study in the Utah Valley area, conducted during a time with relatively high air pollution exposure, found significant positive correlations between school absences and air pollution.

Metagenomic evidence for taxonomic dysbiosis and functional imbalance in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) results in inflammation, malabsorption of fats and other nutrients, and obstruction in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, yet the mechanisms linking these disease manifestations to microbiome composition remain largely unexplored. Here we used metagenomic analysis to systematically characterize fecal microbiomes of children with and without CF, demonstrating marked CF-associated taxonomic dysbiosis and functional imbalance. We further showed that these taxonomic and functional shifts were especially pronounced in young children with CF and diminished with age.